Bay Bridge Groundbreaking 1933

This 1933 silent newsreel, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Groundbreaking, shot in black-and-white 16mm, captures the July 9 groundbreaking on Yerba Buena Island (Goat Island). Former President Herbert Hoover and Governor James Rolph emerge from the admiral’s residence, joined by Admiral Laws and beauty queens—Miss Alameda, Miss San Leandro, Miss San Francisco—for the ceremony. Parade scenes precede speakers, then Rolph and Hoover turn the first earth with a silver spade for cameramen. A pre-war milestone, it marks the start of the Bay Bridge’s rise, linking San Francisco and Oakland across the Bay.